Archive for the ‘Tips & Tricks’ category

How to Set Up a Kiosk on Windows 11 Computer

June 7th, 2022 by Admin

Kiosk mode allows you to convert a Windows PC into a kiosk that runs only a single app in full screen, so customers can focus on product catalog or placing orders, without distraction. In kiosk mode, users can’t access the desktop, Start Menu or anything outside of the kiosk app. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps of setting up a kiosk on Windows 11 computer to have a basic kiosk experience.

How to Set Up a Kiosk on Windows 11 Computer

  1. Press the WIN + I keys together to launch the Settings app. Select the Accounts category on the left side, and click Family & other users on the right pane.

  2. Under the “Set up a kiosk” section, click the Get started button.

  3. In the pop-up window, enter a name for your kiosk account and click Next. The system will create a new local account with limited privileges and assign it as the kiosk account.

  4. Select a single app you want to run in kiosk mode, and click Next.

  5. If you’ve selected other apps except Microsoft Edge, the setup procedure is almost done and you can reboot the computer to access kiosk mode.

    If you’ve chosen to use Microsoft Edge as the kiosk app, select one of the following options for how Microsoft Edge displays, and click Next.

    • As a digital sign or interactive display – Displays your website in full-screen mode.
    • As a public browser – Runs a limited multi-tab version of Microsoft Edge.

  6. Enter a website’s URL for home page, and specify the minutes of inactivity before restarting Microsoft Edge. Click Next.

  7. Click on Close.

    Log out of your primary account and then sign in with this Kiosk account, it will automatically launch your specified kiosk app in full screen. To exist from the kiosk account, you need to press the Ctrl + Alt + Del keyboard shortcut.

That’s it!

4 Ways to Force Close an Unresponsive Program in Windows 11 / 10

June 6th, 2022 by Admin

How to force quit an unresponsive program or window when it freezes? When a program stops responding, you’ll see the words “not responding” appear on its title bar. You can then choose to wait for the program to respond or force close it. In this tutorial we’ll show you 4 fast and easy methods to force close an unresponsive program in Windows 11 / 10.

Method 1: Force an Unresponsive Program to Quit Using ALT + F4

Use Alt + Tab keyboard shortcut to bring your unresponsive program to the front, and then press Alt + F4 keys at the same time to force the program to quit.

Method 2: Force an Unresponsive Program to Quit Using Task Manager

Use the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keyboard shortcut to open Task Manager. Go to the Processes or Details tab, right-click on the unresponsive program you want to quit and select End task.

Method 3: Force an Unresponsive Program to Quit Using Windows Terminal

Open Windows Terminal as administrator, and then run the tasklist command to view a list of programs and services running on your system. You need to write down the name of the application which isn’t responding.

Next, execute the below command to force the unresponsive program to close. Make sure you replace “yourprogram.exe” with the actual name of the program you want to force quit.
taskkill/im yourprogram.exe /f

After a while, you’ll get a message saying that the process has been terminated successfully.

Method 4: Create Desktop Shortcut to Force Close Unresponsive programs

To force close a program without Task Manager or Command Prompt, you can create a desktop shortcut which can accurately detect unresponsive programs and quit them with ease. Follow these steps:

  1. Right-click any blank area in your desktop, and then choose New -> Shortcut.

  2. Type the following command in the text box, and click Next.
    taskkill /f /fi "status eq not responding"

  3. Give a name to your shortcut and click Finish.

  4. Whenever you have an application that doesn’t respond or becomes stuck, just double-click this desktop shortcut and it will automatically find and quit your unresponsive programs.

That’s it!

3 Fast Methods to Open Folder in New window on Windows 11

June 3rd, 2022 by Admin

Is there a keyboard shortcut to open folders up in a new window? When you double-click a folder in File Explorer, the default option is to open each folder in the same Window. If you prefer opening folders in a new window, here are 3 fast methods available on Windows 11.

Method 1: Always Open Folders in New Window

Press the Windows key + R keyboard combination to invoke the Run command box, type control.exe folders and hit Enter to open Folder Options.

In the General tab, select “Open each folder in its own window“. Click OK.

From now on, Windows will always open each folders in a new window by default.

Method 2: Temporarily Open a Folder in New Window via Context Menu

Just right-click your desired folder in File Explorer, and then choose “Open in new window” from the pop-up context menu.

It will temporarily open your folder in a new window.

Method 3: Temporarily Open a Folder in New Window via Keyboard Shortcut

Use your cursor to select the desired folder, then press the Ctrl + Enter (or Ctrl + N) keyboard shortcut. Your selected folder will be opened in a new window.

Another method is to press and hold the Ctrl key, then double-click your target folder to open it in a new window.

That’s it!

How to Stop Folders from Opening in New Window on Windows 11 / 10 / 8 / 7

June 1st, 2022 by Admin

Folders always open in new window? File Explorer opens every folder in its own folder window? This can be quite annoying because you may get too many new windows after navigating through some folders. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps to stop folders from opening in new window on Windows 11 / 10 / 8 / 7.

Part 1: Use Folder Options to Set Folders to Open in New Window

  1. Press the Windows key + R together to bring up the Run dialog box, enter the below command and press Enter to launch File Explorer Options.
    control.exe folders

  2. Under the “Browse folders” section, select the “Open each folder in the same window” option.

  3. Click Apply and then OK. You can now double-click a folder in Windows Explorer and see if it opens in the same window.

Part 2: Reset the Default Double-click Action

  1. Open Registry Editor and navigate to: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell. Look for the “(Default)” entry in the right pane. If its value data is not empty, double-click it.

  2. In the Edit String dialog box, remove anything from the Value data field and click OK.

  3. Next, browse to: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\open. If the LaunchExplorerFlags entry appears in the right pane, just right-click it and select Delete.

  4. Close Registry Editor. Every time you double-click on a folder, it should no longer open in a new window.

That’s it!

3 Steps to Adjust Touchpad Sensitivity on Windows 11 Laptop

May 31st, 2022 by Admin

Touchpad is too sensitive and it is hard to control? How can I reduce the sensitivity for the built-in touchpad on my laptop? In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps of adjusting touchpad sensitivity on Windows 11 laptop.

How to Adjust Touchpad Sensitivity on Windows 11 Laptop

  1. Press the Windows logo key + I to bring up the Settings app. Choose Bluetooth & devices from the left pane, and then click Touchpad on the right.

  2. Under the Gestures & interaction section, click Taps to expand the settings.

  3. You can now click the “Touchpad sensitivity” drop-down box to change the sensitivity level of your touchpad. The available sensitivity levels include:
    • Most sensitive
    • High sensitivity
    • Medium sensitivity
    • Low sensitivity

That’s it!

3 Methods to Restart Start Menu in Windows 11 / 10

May 30th, 2022 by Admin

What to do if Start Menu stops working all of a sudden? Starting with Windows 10, Start Menu has been moved out of File Explorer, and it appears as a standalone process (StartMenuExperienceHost.exe). If the Start Menu freezes up or becomes unresponsive, here are 3 simple methods to restart Start Menu in Windows 11 / 10.

Method 1: Restart Start Menu Using Task Manager

Press the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys together to bring up Task Manager. Select the Users tab, and then click the small arrow next to your account.

Choose the “Start” process from the list, and click End task.

The Start Menu process will stop and then start automatically.

Method 2: Restart Start Menu Using Windows PowerShell

Open Windows PowerShell as administrator, and then execute the below command:
Stop-Process -Name "StartMenuExperienceHost" -Force

The Start Menu process will exit and restart automatically.

Method 3: Restart Start Menu Using Command Prompt

Launch Command Prompt as administrator, and run the following command:
taskkill /f /im StartMenuExperienceHost.exe

You’ll get the message that says the StartMenuExperienceHost.exe process has been terminated. After a very short time, the Start Menu process will start on its own.

Fast Methods to Restart File Explorer in Windows 11

May 27th, 2022 by Admin

There are situations where File Explorer becomes unresponsive and you need to restart it. To apply a registry tweak, you may also need to restart File Explorer. In this tutorial we’ll show you some fast methods to restart File Explorer in Windows 11.

Method 1: Restart File Explorer Using Task Manager

Use the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keyboard shortcut to open up Task Manager. Choose the Users tab, then click the arrow next to your current account to expand a list of all running programs.

Select “Windows Explorer” and click the Restart button to restart File Explorer.

Method 2: Restart File Explorer Using Windows PowerShell

Open Windows PowerShell as administrator, and then run one of the following commands:

  • kill -n explorer
  • stop-process -name explorer -force

It will restart the File Explorer immediately.

Method 3: Restart File Explorer Using Command Prompt

Open Command Prompt as administrator, and execute these commands one by one:
taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start explorer.exe

This will forcibly terminate the explorer.exe process and then start it.

Method 4: Restart File Explorer Using Keyboard Shortcut

Press and hold the Alt + Tab keys at the same time. When the Task Switcher appears, release the Tab key and then press F4. After a while, Windows Explorer will restart automatically.

Method 5: Create a Desktop Shortcut to Restart File Explorer

Right-click the empty space on your desktop and choose New -> Shortcut from the context menu that pops up.

Copy the following command and paste it in the location box, and click Next.
cmd.exe /c "taskkill.exe /f /im explorer.exe && start explorer.exe"

Type a meaningful name for this shortcut. Click Finish.

Whenever you need to restart Windows Explorer, simply double-click the desktop shortcut you just created.

That’s it!

Restore Old / Classic Ribbon back in Windows 11 File Explorer

May 26th, 2022 by Admin

Windows 11 comes with a new, simplified ribbon at the top of File Explorer. The new ribbon shows fewer icons and hides most of the icons, making it easier for touch-screen users to click with fingers.

If you don’t like the new, modern ribbon interface, you can restore the old / classic ribbon back in Windows 11 File Explorer with a simple registry tweak.

Updated: This method doesn’t work with Windows 11 22H2 or newer version. But you can still use other methods to open the classic File Explorer with ribbon.

How to Restore Old / Classic Ribbon back in Windows 11 File Explorer

  1. Open Registry Editor and navigate to the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Shell Extensions\Blocked. Right-click the blank area in the right pane and select New -> String Value.

  2. Rename the new string to {e2bf9676-5f8f-435c-97eb-11607a5bedf7}, and leave its value data empty.

  3. Log off and log back into your Windows account. The File Explorer with classic ribbon will come back.

    If you want to use the new, simplified ribbon later on, just delete the {e2bf9676-5f8f-435c-97eb-11607a5bedf7} string you created.

That’s it!

2 Methods: Always Show Scrollbars in Windows 11

May 25th, 2022 by Admin

By default, the scrollbars in Windows 11 are hidden until activated by scrolling. This might cause you miss out on content because your system doesn’t tell you that you could scroll. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 simple methods to make Windows 11 always show scrollbars, when there is content that must be scrolled to access.

Method 1: Set Scrollbars to Always Display Using Settings App

  1. Press the WIN + I keyboard combination to launch the Settings app. Choose Accessibility from the left navigation pane, and then click Visual effects on the right side.

  2. Turn on the “Always show scrollbars” toggle switch.

  3. Now the scrollbars will always appear in all of your applications, including the Settings app and Notepad.

Method 2: Set Scrollbars to Always Display Using Registry Editor

  1. Open Registry Editor and navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Accessibility. On the right, double-click the 32-Bit DWORD value DynamicScrollbars.

  2. Change its value data from 1 to 0 to make Windows 11 always show scrollbars, click OK.

  3. Close Registry Editor and log off your account. The next time you sign back into your account, the scrollbar will always show up on windows.

That’s it!

4 Methods to Disable File Compression in Windows 11 / 10

May 24th, 2022 by Admin

Windows 11 keeps compressing files in the C: drive? How do I stop Windows from automatically compressing files? This problem usually happens when your PC is running out of disk space. In this tutorial we’ll show you 4 methods to disable file compression in Windows 11 / 10.

Method 1: Disable File Compression Using Group Policy

Open Local Group Policy Editor and browse to: Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Filesystem\NTFS. On the right pane, double-click the policy “Do not allow compression on all NTFS volumes“.

Select the Enabled option. Click Apply and then OK.

Reboot your computer to make the changes take effect. The next time you try to enable file compression, you’ll get the error message “Compression is disabled for this volume“.

Method 2: Disable File Compression Using Registry Editor

Open Registry Editor and navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies. In the right pane, right-click the blank area and select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value.

Name the newly-created DWORD NtfsDisableCompression, and then change its value data to 1 for turning off automatic file compression.

Close Registry Editor and restart your computer to apply the changes.

Method 3: Disable File Compression Using Command Prompt

Open the Command Prompt as administrator and then run this command to disable file compression:
fsutil behavior set disablecompression 1

A reboot is required for this change to take effect. Whenever you need to enable file compression again, execute the following command:
fsutil behavior set disablecompression 0

Method 4: Uncompress Your Files in File Explorer

Right-click a compressed folder or file in File Explorer, and then select Properties from the context menu.

Under the General tab, click the Advanced button.

In the Advanced Attributes dialog, uncheck the box which says “Compress content to save disk space“. Click OK.

When you’re back to the Properties dialog, click Apply. A pop-up will appear, and you can choose “Apply changes to this folder, subfolders and files” and click OK.

After uncompressing, two blue arrows will no longer show up in the icons of your folders or files.